Read Tales of a Korean Grandmother for Free Online

treasury. Of course a good deal of that money went into their own brassbound chests. They called this their rightful 'squeeze.'
    "Hué, that farmer came up to Seoul. He straightway sought out the Prime Minister to ask for a good position at the King's court. Cho made the Minister many rich presents. He went every day to the Minister's courtyard to plead his case.
    "'Perhaps tomorrow,' the Minister said every time Cho laid a gift at his feet. But that tomorrow never came. One year—two years—three years—and four. Again and again, Cho sent home for more money out of his cash chests. One does not eat for nothing here in the capital.
    "Then one day there came word that his cash chests were all empty. His rice fields were neglected. His house would have to be sold. His family were starving.
    "'Help me to the position now, Honorable Sir,' Cho pleaded with the Minister. 'My cash chests are empty. I shall have to give up and go home.'
    "But the Minister only shook his head and again said, 'Perhaps tomorrow.'
    "Cho turned away from that Minister with rage in his heart. He vowed he'd get even somehow and sometime.
    "On his journey home Cho took shelter one night under the grass roof of an old country couple. They made him welcome. They shared their rice and their kimchee with him. They gave him the warmest part of the floor to sleep upon. But as the sun rose and the cock crew, Cho, half-awake, heard them talking above him.
    "'It is now time to take the ox to the market,' the old man said to his wife. 'Get me the halter.' And he began to tap Cho lightly all over his body with four little sticks. Cho tried to cry out, but to his surprise the only noise he could make was the bellow of an ox. When he rose from the floor, he found himself standing on all fours, and the old woman was putting a ring in his nose. As he went out of the hut, he had to take care lest his horns catch in the doorposts. The poor man had been turned into a great hairy ox.
    "As he was led along the highway by the ring in his nose, Cho's heart was filled with dismay at the trick that had been played upon him. He was the finest and fattest among the many animals at the cattle market, but his owner asked such a high price that at first none could buy. Finally there came a butcher who had tarried too long in a wineshop. His senses were dull, and he paid the high price. Then he led poor Cho away to be killed.
    "Fortunately for Cho, the road they took passed another wineshop. There the drunken butcher tied his prize ox to a stake, so that he might go in and have just one more bowl of sool.
    "Cho himself was hungry, and thirsty, too. And just across the road from the wineshop there was a field of fine turnips. With his great strength the ox-man was able to pull the stake out of the ground and to break his way through the roadside hedge. He pulled up a juicy turnip and sank his teeth into it.
    "As he munched, Cho's hairy hide began to itch. His great body began to shake. He rose up on his hind legs. When he looked down at his hands and feet, he saw to his delight that he was a man again. Cho walked out into the road, where he met the drunken butcher, who begged him to tell him if he had seen his lost ox.
    "As Cho turned his face again towards home, he said to himself, 'Sticks and turnips! Sticks and turnips! That is the secret. And if I can just get hold of those magic sticks, I can take my revenge upon that selfish Prime Minister.'
    "Going back to the hut of the old country couple, he was welcomed as before. But this time, as soon as they were asleep, he began his search for the four magic sticks. Long before the sun rose and the cock crew, Cho crept out of the house with the sticks hidden in his sleeve. All the way back to Seoul, lest he should forget, he kept saying to himself over and over again, 'Sticks and turnips! Sticks and turnips ! That is the secret."
    "Now Cho knew well the sleeping room of the official. The gates were unlocked, and the doors stood